A couple's adventures with beer.

New Park Brewing – West Hartford, CT

We spent our Sunday Funday checking out New Park Brewing in West Hartford, Conn. We-Ha’s first craft brewery has been open since early spring 2017, but the buzz had been building for years. New Park is located on New Park Avenue (see what they did there?) making it convenient to the highway and CTfasttrack. It is also conveniently located near Home Depot if you are in need of a beverage or three when working on your next home improvement project. We speak from experience here.

New Park Brewing is moderate in size with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. You can belly up to the L-shaped bar or grab a very comfortable seat at one of the oversized pub height tables. There are also a few longer tables for large crowds. The space is very open and clean with pops of color provided by the artwork on the walls and vibrant green plants throughout. The brewing space, shiny and new, is separated from the tap room by a wall of black paned glass. The overall ascetic is pleasing and clean with white and dark beige paint. It is also nice and cool inside, which is important on a 90-degree summer day. New Park is definitely a place where you can hang out for a few hours.

New Park offers 12 and 16-ounce pours along with 1L growler fills – just make sure you’re in the right line (there is a place to order pints and a place to order growlers). We were a little disappointed that they did not offer flights, but we ended up ordering a 12-ounce pour of each beer that was on draft. We each started with their fruited berliner series, which is where they are adding fruit combinations to a tart Berliner Weisse base beer. He ordered the Blender Blackberry while she went with the Blender Mango Peach. The Blender Blackberry (5% ABV) has a gorgeous berry color and is refreshingly tart. The Blender Mango Peach (5% ABV) was very juicy and not overly tart. The color will remind you of a smoothie. Another juicy offering from New Park is their Cloudscape IPA (6.5% ABV), a New England style IPA. This beer has amazing citrus and melon notes, but it does not have too much of a citrus punch. It is smooth and very drinkable – a great summer beer. Finally, we ordered Warbler (6% ABV), a saison with lime zest. The Warbler is light and refreshing with a hint of lime in the aftertaste.

Blender Blackberry (left) and Blender Mango Peach (right)

Cloudscape IPA (left) and Warbler (right)

New Park does not sell food, but food trucks are often parked right outside in their ample parking lot. The list of upcoming food trucks is on their website and is promoted on their social media. The brewery is open every weekend and is also open on Thursday nights during the summer.

She said: “It is hard not to be impressed with New Park’s beers. I really loved the Cloudscape IPA. I also want to make it my summer goal to try every one of their Blender series. Two down!”

He said: “The beers we tried at New Park were all very drinkable. The Blender Blackberry was my favorite of the day followed very closely by the Cloudscape IPA.”

New Park Brewing is a great addition to the greater Hartford craft beer scene. Make the trek – you won’t be disappointed.